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The Maori in Aotearoa
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The English in England
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The indigenous clans of Australia
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Time and Space: Time was cyclical- people looked to the past for guidance for the future
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Time and Space: Time was linear - people saw time as beginning in the past, continuing forward into the present and future
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Time and Space: Time was cyclical - the future was directly related to the past – to the ‘Dreamtime’.
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Time: Time was flexible.People had to adapt to ranges of time
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Time: Life was regulated by time - clocks, watches, timetables, schedules. Punctuality was very important
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Time: Time was flexible. Life was regulated by the seasons.
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Education: Everybody got some education. Common knowledge was given to all. The tohunga passed on specialist knowledge to the most able. It was an oral culture.
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Education: Education was by the Church, voluntary organisations and fee-paying schools. The rich got the most and best education. It was a reading and writing culture.
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Education: There was no written language. Education was transferred through story-telling, dances, ceremonies and art. Boys and girls learned some different knowledge, sacred to their gender only.
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Status: A person was thought of as a member of a tribe. Personal qualities of courtesy, compassion and naturalness were important.
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Status: A person was thought of in terms of his job, how much land he owned, or who her husband was. Achievement was an important mark of status.
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Status: A person was thought of as a member of a language group, local group or clan, skin group and moiety. They did not think of themselves as belonging to a tribe as they did not recognize a sole ‘chief’.
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Spirituality: The spiritual world was part of everyday activities. Karakia (prayers) were recited to a number of Atua (gods), representing ancestors and the natural world. Everything in nature had mauri - life force.
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Spirituality: Religion was organised. The official established Church was the Protestant Church of England. Other religions were allowed, such as Roman Catholicism.
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Spirituality: Spirituality was a part of everyday activities. Sacred rituals, totems and songs explained the origin of life, group customs, the source of their food supply and raw materials, and the mysteries of life.
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Economy: There was no money. But there was an exchange of gifts (taonga). Gifts were used to develop communal living – as gifts were shared, many people had very little.
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Economy: Society was based on competition and there was respect for money and power. Those who could accumulated money, acquired products and status, and did not often share.
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Economy: There was no money. Items like shields, spears, boomerangs, rugs, axes, red ochre, greenstone and pituri (a drug) were traded with other clans or tribes. Marriage partners were also exchanged. Resources were shared.
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Medicine and Health: Sickness was cured by herbal remedies from such plants as kumarahou, koromiko and kawakawa. Prayers were recited to the atua (gods). The tohunga exorcised evil spirits thought to cause serious illnesses.
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Medicine and Health: Modern medicine was developing, including bacteriology, methodical examination of patients, invention of the stethoscope, physics and biochemistry.
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Medicine and Health: Sickness was cured by herbal remedies, or removing evil spirits by rubbing or sucking the affected part of the body. ‘Medicine men’ and some women took the role of doctors.
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Land ownership: Land was divided up amongst tribes. Land was owned collectively. The boundaries were natural features and boundary stones. Places were named by putting a personal mana on them, so each place told a story.
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Land ownership: The basis of the social structure was land ownership. The upper classes were the landed gentry and the lower classes were landless. Property and land were owned by individuals. Boundaries were most often constructed from stone.
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Land ownership: The land was not owned by anybody. It was passed on and entrusted to the next generation. The land a clan identified with was connected to their ‘Dreaming’ – origin story. Boundaries were natural features such as rocks, gullies and the coast.
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Land value: The land was Papatuanuku, the mother who sustained all life. Land was the visible link to the ancestors and a person’s turangawaewae. Land was for needed for survival.
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Land value: Land was meant to be used and developed. Land was modified for progress in farming and the growth of cities. Hunting was a high-status sport. ‘New’ lands were there to be ‘discovered’, conquered and colonised.
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Land value: ‘The land owns the people, not the other way around’ as local natural features were the people’s ancestors. The earth and animals were all put together for the use of all. People’s survival depended on the land.
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National identity: Tribes were independent of each other. Each tribe was responsible for its own people. No other country ruled them.
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National identity: The country was united under the ‘Crown’ or ‘Monarch’. People identified themselves as belonging to the whole country.
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National identity: Each local group was identified by their dialect within one of 500-700 language groups across the country. Ultimately, everyone was related to everyone else.
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Transport: Transport was by walking or canoe.
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Transport: Transport was wheeled vehicles on roads, water transport through canals and sailing ships on oceans. Train transport was beginning.
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Transport: Transport was by walking and on the coasts or between the islands, dug out canoes were used.
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War and peace: Each tribe had its own warriors and war parties. Tribes had wars against each other.
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War and Peace: There was a strong and well-resourced army and navy to ‘rule the seas’.
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War and Peace: The size of the country, the relatively small number of people and the skill in getting food from the environment meant that life was generally peaceful.
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Law and order: Decision-making was by the iwi. There were strict rules of behaviour. Control was by tapu – there were no police or prisons.
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Law and order: Respect for law and order was taught. Convicts were transported to other countries. Over 200 crimes could be punished by death.
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Law and order: Indigenous lore (rules, rights and laws) operated most effectively within the language group. If a rule was broken, there was ‘an eye for an eye’ type consequence. No police force.
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Housing: People lived communally in pa (fortified villages) or kainga (unfortified villages). Life was very organised. People moved only to find food, trade and expand tribal boundaries through tribal conquest.
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Housing: The kind of dwelling people lived in depended on their class, e.g. terraced house, detached house, manor, castle, palace. Middle and upper classes led a sedentary (settled) life. Some lower class families had to move often to find work.
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Housing: Most local groups or clans were semi-nomadic. They lived communally in temporary houses made from bark, branches, mud, seaweed, palm leaves, stone and/or skins. Island-dwellers in the north lived a more sedentary (settled) lifestyle.
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Morals: Helping and sharing with others and treating other people were valued.
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Morals: People were taught that ideals were strict discipline, hard work, being moral, keeping a stiff upper lip, knowing right from wrong.
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Morals: Helping and sharing with others were valued as important for survival.
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Family: The basic social unit was the extended family. Family interaction was integral to everyday life. Aunties, Uncles and Grandparents were often primary child-rearers.
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Family: The basic social unit was the nuclear family: the mother, father, and child or children.
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Family: The basic social unit was the extended family. Family bonds were very important. Most relations of the same generation were equal, so a boy or girl had more than one mother or father and more than one set of brothers or sisters.
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Social identity: Society included iwi, hapu and whanau. All members were joined by kinship ties. The iwi was the social, political and economic unit.
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Social identity: Society was divided into classes – upper, middle and lower. Upper classes had servants, political power, big houses. Lower classes had it tough.
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Social identity: Society was comprised of language groups, local groups or ‘clans’, skin groups and moieties. Social groups also identified with a sacred totem.
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Children: Children were a value in themselves. They were loved regardless of their achievements. Children were usually an equal member of the family structure.
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Children: Children were an extension of their parents. They were expected to achieve higher than their parents. Children would be loved if they conformed to parental values.
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Children: Parents showed fond affection for their children. Young children had a lot of freedom. Teenage boys and girls had special rituals to prepare for adulthood.
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Women: Society was ambilateral (the family line could be traced through the mother or father). Women were considered ‘whare tangata’ – the houses of people. Their role as child-bearers was held in high regard.
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Women: Society was patrilineal (the family line was traced through the father). A woman’s status depended on her husband’s. Women could not vote.
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Women: Some language groups were matrilineal (the family line was traced through the mother). In these tribes, women were very important and had first rights to land. Women provided up to 80% of the family’s food.
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